Illegal mining case: HC reserves orders for tomorrow

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court today reserved to tomorrow its orders on the anticipatory bail plea of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and his kin in the illegal mining case. Justice Subhash B Adi after hearing arguments from both sides, reserved the orders to tomorrow.

Opposing the anticipatory bail application moved by Yeddyurappa and others, CBI counsel Ashok Bhan submitted there was a prima facie case against him and his kin in the illegal mining case which required their custodial interrogation.

He also submitted a prima facie case had been made out with instances like agreement between state-owned Mysore Minerals Limited and Jindal group in 2006 and 2010, allegedly causing a loss of over Rs 700 crore to the state exchequer. Yeddyurappa was deputy chief minister in JDS-BJP coalition government in 2006 and chief minister in 2010.

The CBI also submitted a prima facie case has been made out on charges that the trust run by Yeddyurappa's family received Rs 10 crore from South West Mining Limited and denotification of Rachenahalli land and its subsequent purchase by South West Mining Company from Yeddyurappa's kin.

Senior counsel for Yeddyurappa C V Nagesh argued that the Central Empowered Committee report on illegal mining on the basis of which the Supreme Court directed CBI to probe the matter, is "a carbon copy" of the first complaint on illegal land denotification case filed by advocate Sirajin Basha in which Yeddyurappa has already been granted bail.

Nagesh said there has been no violation of bail conditions by his client after being granted bail on November 8, 2011. He said there was no question of tampering with evidence as Basha's complaint was not based on oral, but documentary evidence, already placed before the jurisdictional court.

The CBI on June 16 had questioned Yeddyurappa's two sons and son-in-law in connection with its probe after registering an FIR against them and raiding their premises. The CBI is probing the charges on the apex court directive, based on recommendations of the CEC set up by it to look into illegal mining.